Juliet Bravo is a British television police procedural drama series, first broadcast on 30 August 1980,
The series was devised by Ian Kennedy Martin, who had already enjoyed success with another police drama series, The Sweeney. Although the genre of police dramas was well-established on British television by 1980, Juliet Bravo and London Weekend Television's The Gentle Touch, which started a few months earlier, were the first series that saw female officers as lead characters, having to fight both crime and the prejudice of male colleagues.
UKTV’s Drama channel reran all six series in 2018 and again in early 2019. The series had previously been repeated in its entirety on the cable and satellite channel UK Gold from the launch in 1992 until 2001.
Filming locations
Studio scenes for the first two series were recorded at BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane in London. From the third series onward, studio scenes were recorded at the BBC's Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. Exterior scenes were filmed in the
Lancashire towns of
Colne,
Bacup,
Accrington, Nelson,
Burnley,
Blackburn, Simonstone and Read. Other locations around east
Lancashire, West Yorkshire such as
Todmorden and the
Black Country (
Tipton and
Dudley) were also used. The exterior of Hartley Police Station seen throughout the entire series run was in fact the real-life police station on Bank Street in the town of Bacup. When the station closed in 2011, a campaign was mounted by fans of the series to save it from demolition and turn it into a museum dedicated to the series' legacy.
In 2012 it was purchased by a local developer and turned into 6 new flats.
Merchandise
All six series of
Juliet Bravo have been released on DVD by 2|Entertain/Cinema Club. Series 1 was released on 12 September 2005.
Series 2 was released on 14 November 2005.
Series 3 was released on 20 February 2006.
Series 4 was released on 22 May 2006.
Series 5 was released on 14 August 2006.
Series 6 remained unreleased for over two years after the release of Series 5, until a petition created by fans of the series was delivered to 2|Entertain, requesting the sixth and final series be released on DVD. Series 6 was eventually released on 29 September 2008.
Series 1 & 2 have also both been released on Region 4 DVD in Australia.
Aside from the DVD releases, the BBC licensed three TV tie-in novelisations of the show. These were authored by Mollie Hardwick. The first two were published by Pan Books. Juliet Bravo 1 (1980) was a novelisation of the first series episodes Shot Gun, Fraudulently Uttered, The Draughtsman, The Runner and Family Unit.
A script book, containing five TV scripts from the first series compiled by Alison Leake, was issued by Longman Imprint Books in February 1983.
Cast
Main
-
Stephanie Turner as Inspector Jean Darblay (Series 1–3)
-
Anna Carteret as Inspector Kate Longton (Series 4–6)
-
David Ellison as Sergeant Joseph Beck
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Noel Collins as Sergeant George Parrish
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David Hargreaves as Tom Darblay (Series 1–3)
-
Tony Caunter as DCI Jim Logan (Series 1–3)
-
Edward Peel as DCI Mark Perrin (Series 4–6)
-
Mark Drewry as PC Roland Bentley (Series 1)
-
Gerard Kelly as PC David Gallagher (Series 2)
-
David Straun as PC Martin Helmshore (Series 3)
-
C.J. Allen as PC Brian Kelleher (Series 4–6)
-
Mark Botham as PC Danny Sparks (Series 4–6)
-
Tom Georgeson as John Holden (Series 4)
Recurring
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John Ringham as Divisional Supt. Lake (Series 1)
-
Geoffrey Larder as DS Dave Melchett (Series 1)
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Wendy Allnutt as Jennie Randall (Series 1)
-
Martyn Hesford as PC Ian Skelton (Series 1–2)
-
James Grout as Divisional Supt. Albert Hallam (Series 2)
-
Lloyd McGuire as DS Bernie Duckworth (Series 2 & 4)
-
David Gillies as PC Peter Sims (Series 3)
-
Sebastian Abineri as DS Dick Maltby (Series 4–6)
-
Julie Foulds as WPC Sheila Saunders (Series 6)
Guest appearances
A number of famous names, either of the time or of the future, appeared in the show. They included:
David Ryall,
Kevin Whately,
Eric Richard,
Jeff Rawle,
Jean Boht,
Patricia Hayes,
Peter Jeffrey, Peter Martin,
Brenda Fricker,
David Daker,
Andrew Burt, Frances White,
Malcolm Terris,
Joe Gladwin,
Sara Sugarman,
Tenniel Evans,
Nadim Sawalha,
Jack Smethurst,
John Savident,
William Gaunt,
Colin Baker,
Kenneth Waller, Rita May,
Stephen Yardley,
John Woodvine,
Stephen McGann,
Leslie Schofield, Alan Parnaby,
Shirley Stelfox, Maggie Ollerenshaw,
John Quarmby,
Neil Morrissey,
Del Henney,
Iain Cuthbertson,
Leslie Sands,
Hilda Braid,
Melanie Hill,
John Challis, Paul Chapman, Simon Williams, Christopher Ettridge, George Irving,
Bill Wallis,
Carolyn Pickles,
Jonathan Newth,
Kenneth Cope,
Sally Whittaker,
Karl Howman,
Diana Coupland, Martin Jarvis,
Rosalind Ayres,
Yvette Fielding,
Bert Parnaby,
Robert Glenister,
Mona Hammond,
Steve Hodson, Danny O'Dea and
Bernard Kay,
Patsy Rowlands, Kenneth Farrington
Episodes
Series 1 (1980)
Series 2 (1981)
Series 3 (1982)
Series 4 (1983)
Series 5 (1984)
Series 6 (1985)
See also
-
Down, Richard, and Christopher Perry (eds.). 1997. The British Television Drama Research Guide 1950–1997, second, revised edition. Ashton, Bristol: Kaleidoscope Publishing.
-
Tibballs, Geoff. 1992. The Boxtree Encyclopedia of TV Detectives. London: Boxtree Limited.
External links
